The Solar Dynamics Observatory’s mission is to take a closer look at the sun and space weather. The sun is the source of all space weather, and, according to SDO, still a great mystery to scientists.

A statement about Sunday’s lunar transit explains why the sun appears to shimmy.

“From SDO’s point of view, the sun appears to be shaking slightly – but not because the solar observatory was spooked by this near-Halloween sight. Instead, the shaking results from slight adjustments in SDO’s guidance system, which normally relies upon viewing the entire sun to center the images between exposures.”